By COLLEGE RELATIONS
CHADRON – Chadron State College alum Shawn Banzhaf will be the Spring Commencement speaker May 9 in the Chicoine Center at 10 a.m.
As the executive director of the Pat Tillman Veterans Center since 2022, Banzhaf leads a department within Academic Enterprise Enrollment at Arizona State University. His team of 20 staff and more than 70 Veterans Administration work study employees provide services to more than 20,000 military-connected learners attending the university.
He became the director after starting as a volunteer in 2016 and later a military advocate. As the third director to lead the Tillman Center since its opening in 2011, he is the first one to come from the enlisted military ranks. The previous directors were former commissioned senior military officers.
For 21 years Banzhaf served the U.S. in the Nebraska Army National Guard. He retired as the acting First Sergeant of the 1057th Transportation Company based in Chadron. He is an Iraqi War veteran, during which he earned the Bronze Star and Combat Action Badge during 100 combat missions in and around Baghdad, Ramadi, and Fallujah. His unit, the 1074th Transportation Company, was awarded the Meritorious Unit Citation during their year-long campaign.
Banzhaf is the author of the 5 Ls: A Practical Guide for Helping Loved Ones Heal After Trauma. He has trained thousands of individuals on how using this method is a tool anyone can use with a loved one struggling with PTSD, whether veteran or not.
Banzhaf, recipient of the 2025 Arizona State University Martin Luther King Jr., Servant Leadership Award for Staff, is also a lead facilitator for ASU’s Trek for Vets in partnership with Huts for Vets Wilderness Therapy.
Banzhaf earned a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from CSC in 2010 and a master’s in Sociology from Arizona State University. He also previously served with the Chadron Police Department.
His wife, Jodi, is a CSC alum and former CSC employee. The couple raised their two children, now adults, in Chadron. Banzhaf was invited back to CSC as the keynote speaker for the Alumni and Foundation’s Inspiration event in 2023.
